When Iraqis do show up for the surge, Iraq gov't soldiers who are mostly Shiites want to surge against Sunni militias but not Shiite militias. That is also Nouri al Maliki's unspoken position as voiced through an Iraqi position paper published yesterday or the day before (see third and final article below).
In sum and in short the surge is off to a sorry and inauspicious start. Also SecDef Robt Gates is already planning for what comes after a(nother) failed U.S. surge offensive (the 4th surge). Gates says this isn't the last straw while Gen. Petraeus says this is Iraq's last hope to avoid total chaos. Gates and Petraeus aren't even on the same page. Perfect example of the fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants, make-it-up-as-they-go, disarticulated, incoherent, incompetent, doomed-to-fail U.S. strategy.
THREE articles linked below:
Infighting hampering Baghdad crackdown
quote:Troop 'surge' has yet to materialize in Iraq
Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007
RYAN LENZ
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi commanders are urging the Americans to go after Sunni targets as the first focus of the military push to secure Baghdad, displaying a sectarian tilt that is delaying full implementation of the plan to drive gunmen from the streets, U.S. officers say.
American officers, interviewed at the sprawling Camp Victory base at the western edge of the capital, also acknowledge they are finding little in their initial searches of Baghdad neighborhoods - suggesting either they received faulty intelligence or that the massive publicity that preceded the operation gave militants time to slip away.
The chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said Wednesday that the much-anticipated Baghdad security operation was under way. His remarks came about a month after President Bush announced he was dispatching 21,500 more troops to curb sectarian bloodletting.
Under the plan, Baghdad is to be divided into nine zones, with Iraqi and American soldiers working side-by-side to clear each sector of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents so that reconstruction programs can begin in safety.
Although Iraqis have seen an increase in the number of checkpoints and other security measures, there is little sign of a "surge" of troops in the streets. U.S. officials insist the public will see a big increase soon.
U.S. officers told The Associated Press that the delays in implementing the plan were in part a result of disagreements between American and Iraqi commanders about what neighborhoods should be cleared first.
During joint planning sessions, the Iraqis have been urging U.S. officials to focus on neighborhoods believed to harbor Sunni insurgents, according to officers familiar with the discussions. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject is sensitive.
Several U.S. officers said the Iraqis, especially representatives of the Shiite-run Interior Ministry, played down the threat posed by the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army. They blamed much of the violence against Sunnis on fringe elements.
That led some U.S. officers to conclude that the Iraqis were afraid that confronting the Mahdi Army, led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, would undercut support for the Shiite-led government and trigger even more violence.
~~~snip~~~
quote:As I have written before, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who is a Shiite and owes his ministership to Moqtada al Sadr is all too happy to crack down on Sunni militias but fuggedabout cracking down on Shiite militias in general and Sadr's Mehdi Army in particular. This is yet another reason why Bush's so called surge, another reckless idea touted as well advised and advertized as a "new strategy", is bound to fail exactly like every over tactic that Bush has initiated in the Iraq war. Simply put, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis do not want an American occupation force in their country. Maliki and every other Iraqi conditioned by eons of intrigue easily play Bush and the stupid Americans as the fool they are. Iraqis want to take care of their own affairs and for the meddlesome, arrogant, dominating Americans to go home.
By Louise Roug
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:01 PM PST, February 9, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A month after the Bush administration announced a "surge" in troops for Baghdad, Iraqis are still waiting for anything to change.
Fewer than 20 percent of the additional Iraqi and American troops have arrived so far. And the roughly 5,000 troops that have arrived have yet to make a visible influence in this sprawling city of 6 million people, where thousands of gunmen already patrol the streets.
U.S. officials are trying to manage expectations domestically and in Iraq, continually reasserting that troops slowly will take up their positions in the city over the coming months.
But after one of the bloodiest weeks since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, Iraqis are increasingly impatient. A series of high-profile attacks on civilians and security forces killed more than 1,000 Iraqis and at least 33 U.S. troops in the last eight days.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said he is investigating whether he can speed the pace of the troop buildup. But a senior Pentagon official said this week that it was unlikely that U.S. troops could be sent to Baghdad any faster than planned. The five brigades going to Baghdad are due to arrive one per month, with the final brigade arriving in May.
~~~snip~~~
Iraq, U.S. Advised To Avoid Offensive Against Militiamen
quote:
Maliki's Influence Seen in Report
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 9, 2007; A14
BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces should not launch a military offensive against the militias -- most of them Shiite -- that are a major source of turmoil in Iraq, but should instead rely on nonviolent steps to bring militiamen into the political fold, according to an Iraqi report that draws largely on the views of prominent Shiite politicians.
"In the short-term at least, there can be no military offensive against the militias. Military confrontation, in the current climate, will only strengthen their appeal and swell their ranks," the Baghdad Institute for Public Policy Research concludes.
The institute said the 18-page report, "Dismantling Iraq's Militias," was based on a round-table discussion by six Shiite politicians, two Kurds and a Sunni Arab. Government officials said Thursday it would be considered in setting policy, but some here saw it as reflecting the private thinking of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as more U.S. troops arrive to try to end the violence.
~~~snip~~~
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Faire l'amour, pas la guerre
Make love not war
